Houthi attack on Yemeni government forces kills 53: officials

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Fifty-three people were killed and 200 were injured in an attack on Monday by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on a government security forces training camp in ‌Yemen's coastal Shabwa province, according to the local authority.

Fighting intesifies as Iran-backed rebels fire ballistic missiles during training exercise

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Oct 19, 2026 10:13 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

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Armed Yemeni government forces stand on a pickup truck.

Fifty-three people were killed and 200 were injured in an attack on Monday by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a government security forces training camp in ‌Yemen's Shabwa province, according to the local authority, as fighting in the country intensifies.

Video verified by Reuters from Shabwa province showed injured people and bloodied bodies scattered across the ground.

The Houthis and the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been trading attacks since the group advanced in September toward territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the ⁠Red Sea.

Local authority ⁠sources who spoke on condition of ‌anonymity said the Houthis had launched three ballistic missiles at security forces during a training exercise.

WATCH | How Yemen plays into the Mideast war:

How the Houthi-Saudi Arabia conflict plays into broader Middle East war

Saudi Arabia has recently been rocked by attacks from Yemen's Houthi rebels. The weekend strikes came in response to Saudi's own ongoing attacks on Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, which resumed in July amid the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. Analyst Sina Toossi explains how the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis plays into the broader war in West Asia.

Shabwa, an energy-rich province in southcentral coastal Yemen overlooking the Gulf of Aden, is home to the ⁠Balhaf liquefied natural gas facility, Yemen's largest industrial investment.

Government forces this month began a campaign aimed at recapturing areas controlled by the Houthis, recovering ground near the ‌strait, while the group besieges Taiz, the last major urban stronghold of anti-Houthi forces in the southern highland area of Yemen.

The conflict in Yemen has become another frontline in the wider U.S.-Israeli war on Iran as the Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world's largest ⁠crude exporter, targeting Riyadh's international airport and the state oil company Saudi Aramco.

War ⁠broke out in Yemen in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital ⁠Sanaa, ⁠driving the government south. A Saudi-led military intervention the following year led to a bloody stalemate until the sides agreed a ⁠2022 truce that held until this year.

Yemen is already one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with aid agencies warning of rapidly deteriorating conditions there.

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